Thursday, July 28, 2016

I have 46 hours recorded in single player mode on Steam and the campaign only takes about 11 hours to beat. This game seamlessly combines old school running and shooting with new school collecting and achievements and it is a tonne of fun.

Favourite weapon has to be the Gauss cannon. It fires a high damage accurate single shot which works great for running and gunning. You can't afford to stand around waiting for the automatic weapons to whittle down opponents. The Gauss cannon takes low level enemies out in a single shot even the really annoying shielded guys. The siege mode upgrade path allows it to charge up a massive area of effect shot. In my opinion the most powerful weapon in the game apart from the BFG. The only disadvantage of the Gauss cannon is that it does some much damage that it kills enemies before you can pull off glory kills.

Friday, July 08, 2016

I have been subscribed to Humble Monthly for three months. There are usually one or two games I like along with a bunch of stuff I have no interest in or already own. Every month I dither about whether or not to cancel my subscription so I have decided to go about this in a more scientific fashion. I present to you the Humble Monthly personalised value spreadsheet.

The spreadsheet takes a conservative approach and values games at the lowest price they have ever been on sale at according to isthereanydeal.com. I have multiplied each price by my own level of interest in the game on a subjective 0-100% scale. In this way games I have no interest in are valued at zero. I have also set the value of games I already own to zero even though I may be able to find a home for some of the duplicate keys with younger relatives.

The summary shows that the Humble Monthly bundles are worth an average of over $21 to me which compares favourably with the monthly subscription of $12. Also of note is that there each month has paid its way with at least $18 worth of personal gaming value. A supporting piece of evidence is that every month there has been at least one game that I immediately downloaded to play. Science proves it: Humble Monthly is a good investment for me.

It is worth noting that there are other benefits to Humble monthly not included in the analysis above. It has brought some games to my attention that I would not otherwise have considered and having an active subscription gives 10% off purchases in the Humble Store (although there is a risk of the same item later appearing in a monthly bundle).

Full spreadsheet is available from the link below. Feel free to customise it for your own use:

Monday, July 04, 2016

I used a gift voucher to buy three PS3 games I don't have time to play. I am feeling somewhat perplexed about it even though the voucher was a gift.

Over the years I have paid real money for hundreds of PC games I never got around to playing but somehow this feels worse. Most of those PC games are digital products that can be hidden away in my Steam library causing no offence to anyone. These PS3 games however will sit accusingly under the TV, increasing clutter and reminding me of the fact that they add negative rather than positive value to my existence.